


Camping with the Astin-Woods

by Keye



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-24
Updated: 2010-01-24
Packaged: 2017-10-06 15:44:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keye/pseuds/Keye





	Camping with the Astin-Woods

Elijah rolled down his window and breathed in the clean scent of the woods, fresh and green in the cool, hazy light of an overcast afternoon. "This is nice."

Sean was disappointed. "It isn't supposed to be raining."

"It isn't really. Turn off the wipers."

Sean turned off the wipers and shut down the engine, but he didn't unbuckle his seatbelt. "This was supposed to be the perfect place, the perfect site, the perfect time."

Elijah pointed out to him that it looked like they had the place to themselves. "That's pretty perfect." And not really surprising, considering it was early May and the weather forecast had promised at least a fifty percent chance of rain every day for the next week and more. But Sean had wanted to do this enough to believe they'd get lucky. Elijah took out a smoke to light, then hung his arm out the window so Sean wouldn't be bothered by it. "It isn't cold. And it isn't raining. It's just kind of misty."

"Lijah. I didn't do this to make you miserable."

Elijah knew that. He leaned over and bumped Sean's shoulder with his. "Do I look miserable? I mean, seriously?" He put on a goofy grin and forced a smile out of Sean, then he slid one hand over Sean's jean clad thigh into the warmth between his legs, and rested his head on Sean's muscled shoulder. "We've both been running for months, Seanie. It doesn't matter where we are. I just want you all to myself for a few days. We've earned it."

Sean tucked his hand down against Elijah's and pressed a kiss to the side of his head. "So, it's okay? You're not peeved at me?"

Elijah smiled to himself. "I'm not peeved at you." A scatter of tiny raindrops spattered the windshield. The light was hazy but bright, the sun trying to find a chink in the clouds to shine through. Elijah straightened himself, patting Sean's knee as he pulled his hand free. He put his clove between his lips and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Let's do it."

Sean followed him, looking determined, and they stood in the damp, cool air looking around. It really was a nice spot, wooded on three sides, with a grassy nook set back from the lane for the tent. Sean had gotten good information, and a trunk full of borrowed gear. The back seat of the rental car was packed with clothes and foam pads and sleeping bags, and sacks of food tied shut so Elijah couldn't see what was in them. This little adventure was Sean's late birthday gift to him, and he knew Sean wanted it to be perfect.

Sean kicked a few twigs and stones out of the spot where the tent was going, eyeing it critically. "Doesn't look all that level, does it?"

Elijah looked at it from different angles. "Does it need to be level?" They wouldn't be doing much besides sleeping in it, not much, nothing that particularly needed a flat surface anyway.

Sean looked at him and smiled. "What are you grinning about?"

"Just anticipating." They hadn't seen each other in weeks. There was much to look forward to. "I say we just set it up and give it a try."

Sean gave him a hungry look, anticipating it too. "Good plan."

While Sean went to open the trunk, Elijah took a last hit off his butt and then flicked it into the steel rimmed, concrete reinforced fire ring. That was an eyesore, that and the picnic table, but necessary, he supposed. Sean brought the tent to the table and slid it out of its bag, a mass of blue and gray nylon rolled around a bundle of short, thin poles. There was also a sheet of plastic for under the tent. Moisture barrier, Sean said. Sean had done his homework.

They laid that out first, just where the tent was going, adjusting it this way and that until Sean was satisfied. The door was going to face the lane, he said, so they'd have views of the woods from both sides. Fair enough, thought Elijah. They finally had it just right when a breeze came up, lifting one corner and blowing it askew. The leaves rustled in the trees and dropped collected rainwater on them in big, wet splats.

"Grab that corner, Lij. Put something heavy on it."

Elijah straightened his end of the plastic sheet, looking around, and found a big rock at the edge of the wood to anchor it with. Sean went and came back with a towel to wipe the sheet dry, just in time for another attack, splat. Sean grumbled. Elijah suggested they not worry about it and got a full and patient explanation of how it wouldn't be much good as a moisture barrier if the moisture was on the same side as the tent.

Sean got it reasonably dry and brought the tent, and they spread it out over the plastic. It was big, very big. Sean studied it, slowly walking all around it and flicking through the folds. "The poles go through those sleeves and hook into these ring pins at the corners of the tent. So first we have to put the poles together."

The poles were cool. They looked fragile, not like they could support all that tent, but Sean said they were fiberglass, super strong and flexible, and they were linked with bungee cord so you could just pop them together. Very handy. They were amazingly long put together, their ends poking into the woods on both sides of the clearing. Sean said they were just the right length, that they were supposed to bow and make a dome. Elijah took Sean's word for it.

The sun was on the verge of breaking through as they started, but it quickly went away again as a lazy churning of gray clouds passed over. Everything that could go wrong seemed to do just that. The poles wouldn't bow enough and thwarted their every effort to get two ends of one pole seated at the same time. If Sean put his end in first, Elijah couldn't bend the pole on his end enough to begin to meet the corner of the tent. If Elijah put his end in first, Sean just shoved him and the tent into the trees when he tried. The tent squirreled all over the place and the poles got hung up in the sleeves and it was all a crashing failure. A bird landed on a branch nearby and sat there calling all his friends to come see the show.

Sean concluded that they needed to stake the tent down secure and then seat the poles. So they tried that, and actually got one of the poles bowed and settled in its place on both ends. It promptly flopped over on one side, dragging the tent with it and jamming one end of the other pole into the damp, sandy ground. Sean retrieved that pole, knocking the sand out of it and, with some effort, bent it to his will and got it settled on its corner pin. Elijah cheered him on, as did the blue jay, he'd been spotted. Or the bird might be cursing them for disturbing his place, it was hard to say. Theirs was a false hope anyway. Sean tried everything to get that last pole end in, and it wasn't going. It started to creak. The strain on all of that taut nylon felt like disaster about to happen.

Elijah tried to help, but brute strength seemed to be the only option, and Sean had plenty of that. The pole just had no intention of bending that far, and finally slipped Sean's grip and whacked him in the balls to make its point, twice because he was being stubborn, and straddling the pole like he thought that gave him more leverage. Elijah decided enough was enough and threw up his hands. "Break time. Come on, Irish. We'll go put our heads together and find a way to outsmart it."

Sean distractedly shook his head. "It shouldn't be this hard. I've got to be doing something wrong."

Elijah hooked his arm and insisted. They were thoroughly damp by then, the mist settled on hair and clothes. Elijah ushered Sean to the picnic table bench, though he didn't seem to need the help. "You know, you may not feel that now, but I bet you will."

Sean said he was fine. "Just a glancing blow, or two. Its bark was worse than its bite." He laughed, "Good thing, huh?"

Damned good thing. Elijah would have liked to fuss a little, but Sean was being stoic, so the fussing could wait until later. He lit up a smoke. "You brought drinks, I hope?" Sean didn't jump to get up and get them something, just said there was a cooler in the trunk.

"No beer, sorry. They don't allow alcohol here. There's soda, and water. I'll have water if you're getting, babe, thanks."

Elijah unburied the cooler and got them drinks, then sat on the end of the picnic table, dangling his legs. Sean was glaring at the tent like he thought he might weaken its will. Elijah did his best not to sound amused. "You've never actually done this, have you?"

Sean stiffened his back. "I've seen it done. We're two smart guys. We'll figure it out."

Elijah wasn't worried. He pointed a toe at the heap of gray nylon pooled on the ground beside the table. "What's that for?"

Sean shrugged a little, admitting that he didn't really know. "Must be what the extra poles are for. Goes over the top, I guess."

Elijah's cigarette kept going out in the damp. He finally gave up and tossed it into the burning thing. "Can we have a fire, Seanie?"

Sean looked up at him. "Right now?"

"Later. Tonight. And there'd better be marshmallows in one of those bags."

Sean wrapped an arm around his waist. "Sure thing, babe. And hot dogs. Real camping fare. Just need to find a couple of sticks to sharpen."

Elijah didn't doubt he was serious. "What other fun things have you planned for us?"

Sean leaned against him, warm and solid. "Well, we could hike or rent bicycles. It's too cold to swim, but we can walk on the beach, and we can climb the sand dunes. Or there's a riding stable nearby. I've got brochures."

Of course he did. Elijah smiled.

Sean laid his head down on Elijah's thigh and caressingly gripped his knee. "Or we can do nothing, just hang out and be together."

That sounded even better. Elijah fingered the damp curls at the back of Sean's neck, and felt him sigh.

"But first I have to get this tent up." He pushed himself up and headed for the tent, meaning to have another go.

Elijah shifted and felt something crinkle under his ass. He was sitting on the bag the stakes had come out of. He tugged it free and reached inside to find a folded sheet of paper. "Hey, look." He unfolded it, and triumphantly held it up for Sean to see. "Instructions."

Sean looked back at him, wide eyed. "No." He came back and took the paper to read over. "Well, that makes sense."

Now they were getting somewhere, and a good thing it was. The breeze had grown gustier and more chill, the mist turning into rain, slowly but surely. They had to take apart everything they'd done and start over, with one corner staked down and the first pole started there. Their friendly neighborhood jay came back and groused at them for a while, then took off again when a gust of cold wind blew through.

The poles obediently went where they were supposed to and the tent billowed up and snapped tight. It was raining for real by then, a light but steady shower coming straight down. They stopped to grin at each other anyway, dripping and steaming, until they realized the top quarter of the tent was open screen and the rain was going right in.

"Fuck!" Sean hurried to get the part that went over the top of the tent. Now it made sense.

Elijah went after him, to get the instructions and make sure he put the poles in right. "They go across. There should be little pockets to tuck the ends into. Like this." He held out the paper to show Sean the diagram.

Sean wiped the wet out of his eyes to look at it, and nodded. "All right, I've got it. You go sit in the car, Lij, and I'll get it finished."

Ha. "No way." The damned thing was a kite with the poles in, a very big kite. Sean didn't bother trying to dissuade him. It took both of them to maneuver it in the gusts and get it stretched over the top of the tent and battened down. But they got it done, cool.

Sean was bedraggled and huffy, but he laughed and caught Elijah close for a kiss. A cold-warm, wet kiss, lingering and breathless at the end. Sean smiled sweetly at him when they parted from it. "Your love nest awaits, me dear."

Elijah hugged him hard, and let Sean lead the way, to unzipping the door in the front and pushing him inside. It was huge and bare and wet, puddles standing on the floor, rain pattering the nylon cover overhead. Sean came back to toss in a couple of big towels and then went about pounding in the stakes all around, tugging the floor taut as he went and bouncing the puddles into one pool along the low end of the tent. Elijah took off his sneakers and got down on his hands and knees to dry the floor as well as he could, then tossed the towels over the water that was still standing in the low corner. Good enough.

Sean tossed in the foam pads and the sleeping bags, then disappeared again. Elijah unpacked it all. The pads unrolled and laid out together into a thick, cushy bed, nice. The opened sleeping bags would work as comforters, one on the bottom, inside-up, the other on top. Brilliant.

Elijah stripped out of his wet clothes and threw them into a pile out of the way, then dove into the bed he'd made, which was cold and not comforting at all. He'd bet he looked appealing as all hell with his hair plastered to his face, shivering his ass off. He raked back his wet hair and called out, "Sean, stop whatever you're doing and get in here!"

The door unzipped and Sean stepped in, with an armload of bags and pillows, and more towels. He stopped, staring, and slowly smiled.

Elijah pointed an imperious finger. "Off with your clothes. Get in here and warm me up. Please?"

Sean gave him Sam. "Yes, Mister Frodo, sir, right away."

"And take your shoes off right there. I just mopped the floor." He giggled, crap.

Sean snorted, and dropped the stuff in his arms, then tossed the pillows at Elijah and got himself out of his shoes and his soppy clothes. The rain was still coming down, pelting the flimsy roof, and the inside of the tent was dark and shadowy. Sean's naked skin as it was revealed seemed to gather what light there was and glow.

Elijah stuffed the pillows behind his head, that was better, and eagerly watched the show. Sean pulled his sweatshirt over his head, his gorgeous shoulder muscles flexing. He dropped the shirt with a splooch, and turned away to unbutton his jeans.

"Seaaan!" Sean turned back so Elijah could have the view, but half bent over like he was feeling some discomfort as he peeled off the wet denim. Well, that would be uncomfortable, packed into tight jeans, poor baby. Elijah held back the top cover with a breathy whisper. "Hurry."

Sean grabbed a towel and quickly dried himself off, and brought it to throw over Elijah's head and rumple his hair. Elijah persisted, tugging at him, and Sean finally slipped between the covers and pulled him close. He was blessedly warm, warm and soft and huggable. Elijah wrapped around him and held on tight. Sean cringed and called him a heat leech, but lovingly and tenderly rubbed warmth into his cold, clammy skin, his arms and his butt and the backs of his thighs. Sean kissed his cold nose and warmed the air for him, and said he was sorry.

Elijah leaned his head back and gave Sean a serious look. "Now why would you say that? I'm having a great time." Birds were calling in the trees all around. They didn't seem too concerned about the rain. With it outside and they inside, with things beginning to warm up in the closeness with Sean, it was feeling like a very good thing indeed. "It's like another world," with only a buffeted sheet of thin nylon between themselves and all that nature. Exciting. "And it's all ours for three days, and four nights." He put some emphasis on the nights, with an alluring gaze directly into Sean's soft, mossy green eyes. "I don't want to be anywhere but right here, right now, with you."

Sean squeezed him until he squeaked. "Love you, baby. You're the bestest."

Elijah wriggled in close and wedged his knee between Sean's strong, furry thighs. In the growing heat down there, Sean's handsome erection lay tucked up against his. He caressed it with his body, and lapped a trickle of water that meandered its way from Sean's hair, down his neck and across his throat. "I'm only the bestest for you."

They were always just right together, even after weeks and sometimes months apart. Neither of them wanted or needed to give up the hugging and kissing for anything more strenuous. A slow and thorough hand job from Sean was always heaven. Elijah threw back his head into the pillows with Sean's warm breath at his ear, and came all in a rush, then Sean got his, on his back with Elijah astraddle him, giving it his all. The cover slipped off but Elijah was warm enough by then to hardly notice, until a drop of cold rainwater fell on his naked back through the screen above. He yelped and Sean pulled him down close and held him with warm arms and caressing hands. "Harder, baby, almost there…"

Elijah stroked harder, gripping and sliding on the lotion they had smeared everywhere, braced on his knees with his hand shoved down between them. It was only a little awkward, and well worth it. He fastened his mouth to Sean's in a breathlessly intimate kiss, and Sean trembled and gushed. Rapture.

After all this time, Sean still looked at Elijah with wonder afterward, and it made him feel both grateful and unworthy. As they caught their breath, Sean held his face in both hands and smooched it all over and called him sweetheart, until Elijah engaged him in one more long and lingering mouth-on-mouth kiss, and they finally collapsed.

It was quiet, the rain mostly stopped. The place looked a wreck, with wet, sandy clothes and towels scattered everywhere, and Sean's bag half dumped as he'd left it after digging out the lotion. Somehow, they'd managed to slide a good way toward the low end of the tent, and parted the two foam pads so Sean was lying on the hard ground under the tent floor, with Elijah sprawled on top of him. Elijah eased his weight off and snuggled into the crook of Sean's arm.

Sean reached down to wrap a hand around his. "Let go, Lij."

Elijah liked the feel of it like that, a warm, slippery handful even down and soft. Sean didn't normally mind him playing with it, so this probably meant his balls were hurting. Elijah let it go.

Sean hugged him. "Sorry, babe. It's not bad. It'll be fine."

"There's ice in the cooler. We can put ice on them."

Sean shuddered. "I'm not putting ice on my balls."

Elijah was a little crestfallen. "I guess we'll have to go easy for a while." Damned tentpole. Sean cuddled him and assured him they'd manage just fine. They were a mess. Sean snagged a damp towel and saw to the cleaning up. He said they'd have to find a laundromat next day, for sure. But they could worry about that then.

It grew bright and the fickle sun came out at last, making the whole tent shine a soft blue and dance with dappled shadows. Sean insisted on getting up to zip open the wide window flaps on both sides, then came back and settled down comfy at Elijah's side with the top sleeping bag pulled over them. The view was wonderful, as promised. A breeze riffled the leaves and the tent's walls gently billowed in and out like it was breathing, the air fresh with smells of rain and green, growing things.

Elijah smacked Sean a kiss on the cheek. "It is perfect."

Sean hugged him close and tight, beaming.


End file.
